1. Field of the Invention
This invention relates to communication systems. Specifically, and not by way of limitation, the present invention relates to an apparatus utilizing projected sound in a companion device for a mobile phone.
2. Description of the Related Art
The use of mobile phones in our society has become pervasive with their capabilities continuously increasing. With increased capability, the size of the devices is getting relatively bigger while the fragility of these devices is also increasing. With these increased capabilities, the mobile phones are becoming more like a handheld computer, resulting in awkward use of the device as a phone. Although these devices are used mostly for making and receiving phone calls, they are designed to be more like display devices or handheld computers.
Although there are no known prior art teachings of an apparatus such as that disclosed herein, a prior art reference that discusses subject matter that bears some relation to matters discussed herein is U.S. Pat. No. 7,251,197 to Yoshida et al. (Yoshida). Yoshida discloses a watch which is worn by a user. A speaker unit is provided on the support member so as to face in a transverse direction of a watch band while a microphone unit is disposed on a support member of the watch band. In Yoshida, the speaker and microphone are positioned in opposite direction at the bottom of the wrist to prevent hauling. However, Yoshida fails to teach or suggest a speaker which utilizes directional projected sound to direct the sound to the user's palm and then to the user's ear.
It would be advantageous to have a companion device such as an apparatus built into wrist watch providing an interface to the larger mobile phones or other mobile devices for use in frequently used operations. It is an object of the present invention to provide such a system and method.